Father Figure
by Dana E. Vassy
Summary: Mulder looks back on how his life changed, and all because of a special young girl


Title: Father Figure  
Author: Dana E. Vassy  
Rating: PG 13  
Category: Mulder angst, character death  
Spoilers: Christmas Carol, Emily, Redux I and II, Memento Mori, Forrest Gump  
Theme Song: "Father Figure" by George Michael  
Dedications: To Mrs McGinlay, for inviting me to cry at Forrest Gump yesterday.   
And for the biscuits, tea and sympathetic advice.  
  
"That's all you wanted, something special someone sacred, in your eyes"  
  
Maryland suburbs  
8:30 am 22nd February 2015  
  
The serenity of the kitchen was momentarily interrupted by a miniature whirlwind.   
Caroline paused to kiss her father on the cheek before running out to the bus, long   
auburn hair streaming behind her. With a slight smirk, her father resumed searching   
through the photographs strewn across the table.   
  
Caroline was no ordinary daughter. He pondered her amazing arrival as he worked.   
He had found her as part of an investigation into experiments on human babies. She   
had been conceived using stolen ova, and had gestated in the womb of an unknowing   
geriatric woman. But her biological mother was none other than Dana Katherine   
Scully. Luckily, she had been rescued before the corrupt doctors could do her any   
harm in the name of 'science'.  
  
Tomorrow was Caroline's fifteenth birthday, the twenty-third of February. The same   
day as her mother's. Mulder had planned a special day for his adoptive daughter, and   
had managed to involve her many friends and various godparents. Caroline was well   
loved, popular and happy – she must have inherited those qualities from her mother.   
She could be intensely private, but like Scully, it was almost impossible for anyone to   
dislike her. Yet the time was filled with sadness for Fox, it reminded him that mother   
and daughter had never been able to spend the day together.  
  
Finding the child had been a long and dangerous process, and the result could be   
attributed more to luck than anything else. Sometimes he wondered if it had been   
worth the heartache. But one look at the girl told him that no price was too high to   
pay for her survival.  
  
He came across an old picture. It seemed unfamiliar somehow, yet he knew it had   
been there for years. It was from the Cher concert they had taken some long-forgotten   
monster to. Both Dana and Fox were smiling and it looked as though nothing could   
trouble them. Pain seemed a million miles from their jubilant and relaxed   
expressions. The memories brought fresh tears to his eyes.  
  
More than anything, he had admired Scully's strength. Her death from cancer had   
been even more ironic, as no amount of her personal reserve could stem its heartless   
progression through her tiny body. What made it worse was watching her accept   
defeat for the first time, because on this second occasion no smoking man was   
forthcoming with a miracle. Only once had she let him see how scared she was – but   
he could always sense it. Their special connection allowed unspoken   
communication, a blessing for both of them.  
  
Even though she knew she was dying, she continued to help him search for the   
innocent experimental children. Until her body betrayed her, she was beside him   
every step of the way. Mulder knew that it was part determination, and part hope: a   
hope of finding another Emily, and stopping the tragedy before it could begin. The   
doctor in her was curious, but her humanitarian spirit and grief for Emily were the   
driving force. He understood her pain – he had lost his sister without explanation.   
But he also understood the toll the quest was taking on her and spent endless days   
worrying over her. She hated to be 'babied' but permitted him to help her through   
the painful times. It was the kind of trust neither could extend to anyone else.  
  
He swallowed hard, and realised that his coffee cup was glaringly empty. Stubbornly   
wiping the tears from his chiselled face, he moved to the pot for a refill.   
  
Finding Caroline had given the weary Dana some joy during her agonising last days.   
After a tip-off on New Year's Day 2001, he had soon tracked down the mobile   
research facility that housed Caroline and two other baby boys. All had been healthy,   
and taken immediately to the hospital where Scully was bed-ridden. With Mulder's   
help she made the painstaking journey to the ICU where her daughter lay burbling   
happily. On January 6th, the day before she died, Agent Scully had been able to hold   
her eleven month-old baby for the first time. Fox liked to think that it gave her   
sufficient closure to die peacefully.  
  
For years, he had blocked the details of that last day. It still plagued his dreams, the   
gaunt yet beautiful Dana imploring that he ensure her daughter's safety. He had   
known all along that he wanted to adopt her, and was determined that no amount of   
red tape would stop him. He smiled now as he remembered Dana's last words.  
  
"Ya know, if I didn't feel so horrible right now, I'd kiss you"  
  
Mulder had saved her the trouble with a tender kiss on her dry lips. As he did, he saw   
her eyes close for the last time. It was over.  
  
Yet, it never had been over. Now, as Fox made his way to the imported Freelander in   
his immaculate driveway, he noted how Scully had never stopped being part of his   
life. He was heading to the cemetery to lay flowers in time for her birthday. He had   
forgotten too often while she was alive. The key ring on his car keys was the Apollo   
11 one originally given to Dana as her birthday present. Fox grasped it tightly as he   
recalled the heart-felt speech she had given about great men and women. Dana   
Scully had been a great woman.  
  
The graveyard was deserted at this early hour. Most people were at work or school,   
and Mulder was grateful his freelance journalism enabled him to work at home. It   
meant he had seen Caroline grow up, hardly missing a detail – the way Scully would   
have cared for her. Clutching the yellow roses to his chest, he found his way to the   
second last row on the hill. Her grave was well kept as ever – Bill and Tara had seen   
to that. Its eerie beauty seemed somehow fitting, a reflection of Dana's beauty and   
resolve. But emotion overcame him, and slowly Fox sank to his knees in the   
trimmed grass.  
  
Keeping his eyes from the dazzling winter sunshine, he allowed new tears to career   
down his cheeks. Why did it have to be this way? It was him who deserved to die;   
Dana should have lived to raise her stolen daughter. Feeling the pressure, Mulder did   
as he always had – he talked to his soul mate.  
  
"She's so wonderful Scully. Just like you. Only she can't decide whether she   
wants to do medicine or law now. As long as she doesn't join the FBI,   
huh…God, I miss you. No one tells me I'm crazy any more…'cept Bill."  
  
He paused to gather his thoughts. The wind rustled lightly in the overhanging willow   
trees.  
  
"I love you, you know. You're the only woman I ever felt complete with.   
And I got more out of our friendship than any other relationship…I just wish   
you were here to make sure I keep on the right path – you saved me more than   
once. But I'll do my best for Caroline. Ha, she even asks questions like you –   
raises her eyebrow the exact same way. I don't think I can do any better than   
letting her be as special a person as you are. Cuz you're so…so special Scul."  
  
He laid the roses on top of the grave. It was time to go.   
  
"It's her fifteenth tomorrow. I'll give her your cross."  
  
Having explained himself, he was content to walk away. The trek to the car seemed   
long, but he never glanced back. Fox could never forget Scully, yet he knew he had   
to let the past go. All that mattered was securing Caroline's future. Tomorrow, she   
would have a real memento of her mother. If religious symbols had power, Fox   
wished this one could protect her more than it had Scully.  
  
Dawn broke with the chirping of freezing winter birds. With a huge grin, Fox opened   
the door to Caroline's spacious bedroom. He perched on her bed, and watched her   
awake from her slumber. At first glance, it might have been Dana he saw before him.   
  
"Happy birthday, sunshine" he whispered, handing her the small oblong   
package. "This is from mom, in a roundabout way."  
  
Caroline tore at the packaging, and gasped on seeing the pretty gold cross. It was the   
one her mother had been wearing in all the pictures. Fox helped her put it on, and   
then hugged her close. No words were spoken. They both knew the sadness of the   
occasion, although they realised that fun would be a central part of today. After a   
brief moment Caroline pulled away with a mischievous grin.  
  
"So what about the other presents? I'll race you downstairs, Dad"  
  
Mulder smiled as he gave chase. It felt good to have grown up, to be a father.   
Hearing Caroline's raucous laughter, he hurried the rest of the way to catch her   
special day on camera. After all, she was as photogenic as her mother…  



End file.
